Image credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.
What if a single particle of light could reveal information that would otherwise remain hidden? From secure communications and quantum computing to deep-space sensing and biomedical imaging, the ability to detect individual photons is opening up exciting new possibilities. These technologies depend on devices that can capture extremely faint light signals with exceptional precision.
Pushing the boundaries of photon detection
At a recent lecture in the QAMSS Advanced Technology Lecture Series at the Cambridge Graphene Centre, Prof. Val Zwiller explored the development of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors and their growing role in quantum technologies.
Zwiller, of Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), Karolinska Institutet and Single Quantum BV, and Founder and CEO of Quantum Scopes AB, discussed how detectors combining high efficiency, low noise and precise timing can enable applications across quantum photonics, communications, integrated quantum circuits, biophotonics, lidar and sensing.
A particularly promising development is the use of detector arrays capable of collecting spectral, temporal and statistical information simultaneously. By capturing multiple types of information in a single measurement using one instrument, these systems could provide researchers with new ways to investigate light and improve the capabilities of photonic technologies.
Bringing quantum light into real-world applications
The lecture also explored how semiconductor-based single photon sources can generate individual and entangled photons at telecommunications wavelengths. These sources are particularly significant for quantum communication, where information can be encoded in individual particles of light.
Zwiller discussed applications using deployed optical fibres, highlighting the potential to move quantum technologies beyond laboratory demonstrations and towards practical communication systems.
The ability to generate and detect single photons is also important for quantum sensing, where extremely weak signals can provide valuable information about the surrounding environment.
As advances in photon sources and detectors continue to develop, increasingly sophisticated quantum devices could become possible, with applications ranging from secure information transfer to new approaches in scientific measurement.
Zwiller's lecture highlighted how progress in controlling and detecting light at its most fundamental level is helping to lay the foundations for a new generation of quantum technologies.
About the speaker
Professor Val Zwiller is a senior researcher at Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) and Visiting Professor of Quantum Science for Life Sciences at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. His work focuses on generating, manipulating and detecting individual photons using advanced semiconductor and nanophotonic devices.
He has held academic research positions at several leading European institutions, including TU Delft, ETH Zurich and EPFL. He is also the founder and CEO of Quantum Scopes AB, a company developing advanced instruments based on single-photon generation and detection.
By Dr Karen Steward